Cape Verde History

Discovery and Colonization

The islands of Cape Verde began to be discovered by May 1, 1460 by Diogo Gomes, a Portuguese navigator, the archipelago showed no traces of previous human presence. The first island to be discovered was Santiago, named on behalf of the Catholic saint celebrated on that day, followed by the islands of Maio, Fogo, Sal and Boavista.

The remaining islands, Santo Antao, Sao Vicente, Sao Nicolau and Brava and the Branco and Raso islets were to be discovered until 1462, when it would begin the settlement of the islands through free Europeans and slaves from the African coast, including Guinea.

During 3 centuries the capital of the Cape Verde archipelago, was the town of Ribeira Grande on the Santiago island, more commonly known as "Cidade Velha" (Old Town), with an important heritage in the historical context of the country.

At the same time the town became the administrative and religious center of the West African territories annexed by Portugal. In 1533 the date it was promoted to the status of the city, the establishment of the diocese of Santiago and the construction of a cathedral, Ribeira Grande became the first Catholic city of the Tropics.

The city's vulnerability to the pirate attacks led to the transfer of the capital to the village of Praia de Santa Maria, in 1769. This ascended to city status in 1858.The strategic location of these Atlantic islands at the confluence of the sea routes between Europe, Africa and Brasil proved to be of enormous importance to the Portuguese expansion.

The possession of the islands would facilitate the establishment of a trading post that supplied the other fleets vessels, and especially take advantage of the slave trade (the most profitable trade of that time) quickly becoming the center for the slave trade.

The economy of Cape Verde evolved for this business but went into decline with the abolition of the slave trade in the nineteenth century and the gradual deterioration of climatic conditions. With limited resources, Cape Verde became decadent and went to live on the basis of poor and subsistence economy. Its people, the "Crioulo" are the result of the miscegenation between African slaves and European, the is a very singular people with very specific features revealed in its vividness, hospitality, willingness to work and cultural, artistic and musical creativity.

The Independence

Before the independence, already in 1951, Cape Verde's status was changed from a Portuguese colony to an overseas province, and in the year of 1961 the inhabitants became full Portuguese citizens. Cape Verde lived, as a Portuguese colony for 500 years, beginning the fight for independence in the 1950's. The cultural demarcation in relation to Portugal and dissemination of nationalist ideas led to the independence of the Cape Verde archipelago in July 5 of 1975, it was then constituted the Republic of Cape Verde.

Thereafter, and until 1991, the country embarked on a path of self-affirmation governed by the PAICV (African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde) in a single party system that governed for 16 years (1975-1991) practicing a foreign policy of non-alignment garnering aid both from the USSR and China or the U.S. and Western European countries.

Subsisting in a slow rate of development through foreign aid and the remittances from emigrants.Then on 13 January 1991 were held the first multi-party free elections with the victory of MPD (Movement for Democracy ).

This party ruled until 2001 and during the ten years of its governance completely changed the face of Cape Verde by opening the country to foreign investment. This resulted in a significant boost to reduce the unemployment, promote the tourism and economic opening to the exterior. The effort made led to the imbalance of domestic accounts paving the way, in the 2001 elections, for the return to power of the PAICV. However, all the characteristics of democracy remained and commitment to building a country committed to peace, stability and development.

The official language is Portuguese which is the national language, along side with the Creole that comes from a miscellany of Portuguese and African dialects, becoming a symbol of the identity of the Cape Verdean people.